Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a packaged electronic device comprising integrated electronic circuits having transceiving antennas.
Description of the Related Art
As is known, integrated circuits are generally provided in chips of semiconductor material and communicate and interact with the outside world through pads, i.e., portions of conductive material for connection with the outside, such as for example other integrated circuits, external components, conductive supports, and the like.
In detail, each pad may form a termination of a line for conveying electrical signals inside the integrated circuit, or a point for supplying the integrated circuit or other circuits.
Pads of different integrated devices, provided in different chips, may be connected together for example through wires (wire bonding), contact bumps, and/or conductive paths. In all cases, one or more low-impedance resistive paths electrically connect the integrated devices.
In case of a system comprised in a package, the so-called “System in Package” (SiP), i.e., of an electronic device comprising, within a same package, at least two chips and, possibly, passive components, the integrated circuits of the SiP are generally electrically connected through their own pads. Moreover, frequently pads of different integrated circuits are electrically connected through so-called through-silicon vias (TSVs).
However, this solution is not always optimal, since the electrical through vias are subject to important parasitic phenomena that cause their electrical behavior to be non-ideal. In addition, they do not enable sharing with more integrated circuits, and have rather complex manufacturing processes.
In order to overcome in part the described problems, SiPs have been proposed comprising integrated devices provided with a suitable transceiver (also known as “transponder”) connected to a transceiving antenna, typically embedded in the integrated circuit and in general of the loop type. These systems enable exchange of power and information in a magnetic/electromagnetic way. In some solutions, SiPs are provided with electromagnetic expansions in order to improve coupling between the transceiving antennas and/or magnetic cores formed inside or outside the packaging structure.
Patent application No. WO2010076187 discloses solutions having magnetic through silicon vias (or magnetic TSVs) that enable establishment of magnetic circuits between at least two devices in face-to-face, face-to-back, back-to-face, and back-to-back configuration.
These solutions provide for the chips to be arranged on top of each other. However, sometimes it is necessary to connect two devices with a different orientation, typically a device with horizontal orientation and a device with vertical orientation.
This is currently obtained by attaching the two chips on a support and connecting them via electrical connections. At times, the horizontal device and the vertical device are contiguous to each other in such a way that a minor lateral surface of the horizontal device is contiguous to at least part of the main vertical surface of the vertical device (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,095,226).
This solution may be unsuitable in certain situations, for example, in an environment subject to vibrations and/or mechanical or environmental stresses, in view of the possible damage to the conductive path, which may in some case be interrupted, causing malfunctioning of the system. In other cases, cracks may form in the package and allow seeping of foreign substances, with possible contamination and/or corrosion and thus interruption of the electrical connection.
In case of a plurality of devices, the interconnections may be complex, and the manufacturing process is critical and may cause a reduction of the quality of the final system.